STRATFORD EXPLOSION.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 May 1921, Page 4

STRATFORD EXPLOSION.

VICTIM DIES FROM BURNS.

DETAILS AT THE INQUEST.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) Stratford, Last Night Henry Beere, the young man who was severely burned as the result of an explosion of crude oil at the Borough Council’s electric power station on Friday afternoon, died at the Strafford Hospital on Saturday morning shortly after four o’clock. An inquest into the circumstances which caused his death was held on Saturday afternoon, before Mr. T. A. B. Bailey, S.M. (Coroner). Mr. T. C. Fookes watched the proceedings on behalf of the Stratford Borough Council, and Mr. S. Spence was present on behalf of deceased’s parents. Dr. Sowerby, medical superintendent of the Stratford Hospital, stated that j deceased’s burns were so extensive that it was necessary to administer an anaesthetic in order to carry out lhe dressing. On examination it was found that he was suffering from shock, resulting from extensive burns over the whole body, from below the knees to the top of the bead. Deceased recovered from the anaesthetic and remained conscious until about 2.30 a.m. on Saturday, when he gradually became unconscious and died at 4.15 a.m.

Edwin D’Arcy Beere, father of the de-, ceased, said his son was 20 years of age and had been employed at the power station for about three years. He had never complained about his work. • Daniel Windleler, who worked with deceased, said that in order to get some Taranaki crude oil out of a drum deceased placed the drum on its side, so that a fire lit on the side away from the hole would melt the oil, which would then run out of the hole. Witness helped deceased in these operations, eods of earth being placed so as to prevent any fire getting to the oil as it ran out. The . fire was lighted with a piece of oilvJfl waste. A rfixty-gallon drum was sue®* cessfully emptied in this way, and an eighty-gallon drum was then put in position for heating. Deceased took out the bottom bung, and witness removed the side one. Deceased asked witness to go into the engine shed and see if the engine was running ail right, and witness had hardly entered the shed when he heard an explosion and saw dense volumes of smoke. Deceased was in flames, and was running towards the new Technical School. Witness caught him and succeeded in ripping his shirt down the back. Witness could not get the braces off deceased’s shoulders. He then managed to get deceased on the ground, and K. Rowson, another employee, ran up with two sacks, with which an endeavor was made to smother the flames. Workmen from the new school then arrived and smothered the flamee with a blanket. The explosion was evidently caused by the generation of gas, which might have been duo to tlje drum standing in the sun. It was hardly long enough near the fire to generate the gas. There had been no previous accident caused by the heating arrangement. To Mr. Fookes: He considered the heating arrangement quite safe. At the hospital deceased told witness that he stooped to shake the drum, saw a and remembered no more. Louis C. Vicary, borough electrical en- <4 gineer, said the method of melting the '** oil might be used a thousand times and be quite safe, but there was always the possibility of an explosion. Witness suggested that a chamber should be built in which crude oil could be heated by electricity. The coroner returned a verdict that deceased met his death by accident, there being no evidence of negligence on the part of those working with him. The coroner complimented D. Windleler on, his efforts, at great risk to himself, to smother the flames.